Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Le Beret de Rosebud

The berets -- they are everywhere! I love to wear a woolen beret in the winter, and have been wanting to knit one for myself after seeing Mo's cool tweedy one. But since I've been craving the FO, I decided to knit one for my Rosebud first, especially after seeing this one.

Mods: I modified this pattern quite a bit -- I wanted a slouchier, poufy-er beret, so I did a second increase round (K4 M1) to eventually increase to 150 stitches total). I knitted straight for 3.5", and then sped up the decrease rounds because I was running out of yarn. I knitted the first 4 decrease rounds as called for in the pattern with a plain round between each, but then I simply knit each round as a decrease round until I got to 6 stitches total. The top of the beret would have been flatter had I spaced the decreases as called for, but I really like those sharp pleats at the top. I think it gives the beret a bit of structure.

I also added a little milky pearl button on the top, for a little flair.

One thing about the yarn: it is not stretchy at all. It is soft, but it has absolutely no stretch. I plan to thread a bit of elastic in the ribbing a la Grumperina to keep it on her head.